[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] Blindness is no handicap for Quilt Lady

[Shelley L. Rhodes]

Dexter Daily Statesman, Missouri
Friday, July 22, 2005

Blindness is no handicap for Quilt Lady

Diane Rose, though blind, has made more than 300 quilts including the one on 
the lap of 13-year-old Ryan Foster. Both Rose and Foster are visiting the 
latter's grandparents, Harry and Wanda Foster of rural Dexter. The quilts 
displayed are what Rose described as appliqué, in that the pictures are sewn 
onto the quilts.

How could a blind person make a quilt?

"You see with your eyes, I see with my fingers," said Diane Rose on Thursday 
afternoon. A resident of Waco, Texas, Rose has been visiting at the home of 
Harry and Wanda Foster outside Dexter since last Friday.

Vision-impaired with glaucoma all her life, Rose became blind as a result of 
an accident in 1984, a mere four days before she was to undergo a cornea 
transplant. But not only has that condition not slowed her down, Rose has 
used it to serve as a means to motivate others to achieve their true 
potential.

She has used her lack of sight as a springboard to give motivational talks 
both within and beyond the context of her ministry, Rose of Sharon 
Ministries. "The way I look at it, if I can do what I have done, without 
sight, how much can you do?" she said.

Her achievements are considerable. Even without sight, Rose was heavily 
involved in the Nashville music scene as a journalist covering the various 
aspects of, and personalities in, country music.

And it's not as if she has been dabbling at quilting, either. "I have been 
doing it since 1998," she said, "and I have made more than 300 of them."

In fact, Rose's music connections have resulted in quilts being sold to such 
personalities as country music legend Loretta Lynn. "The quilt I made her 
used to hang in her gift shop," Rose said.

And that's not all. "President Bush has one of my quilts hanging up in the 
office of his ranch in Crawford, Texas," Rose said proudly.

So, how does a blind person make a quilt at all, let alone make quilts that 
famous people would want?

"By feel," she said. "The first quilt I did, I did with polyester instead of 
cotton."

What's the difference? "I can feel the texture of the polyester," she said, 
"but the cotton was too smooth to be able to feel."

And for what does she feel? "I do a lot of appliqué," Rose said, "and you 
can feel where the stitch is because it's smooth against the main part of 
the quilt, while the part that's not yet stitched is not smooth."

Rose acknowledged the parts that she appliqués to the quilt do have to be 
cut for her. But she also noted the most common type of quilt, that she 
called the "split rail pattern," she assembles herself.

"What I do is to lay out four pieces of fabric," Rose said, "12 inches by 
three inches, side by side, and stitch them together to make a square.

"Then I take them and lay them out so they alternate between vertical and 
some horizontal, so it's like the old split-rail fences they used to build."

She added a sewing machine is invaluable for such assembly, and presents 
little problem for her to use. "The person who showed me how to quilt said 
that if you can use a sewing machine, you can quilt," she said.

Does Rose make quilts to order? "Of course," she said. "I make them anywhere 
from king-sized all the way down to baby quilts."

One such made-to-order quilt she has made for the grandson of the Fosters, 
13-year-old Ryan Foster, features big rig-type trucks appliquéd on it. 
Others Rose displayed featured tractors, cats and other items requested by 
buyers.

"I don't do wedding-ring quilts, though," she said, citing difficulties in 
getting them to come out correctly.

Not that she had come to town to sell quilts, nor to sell them during her 
ministries and talks at civic clubs. "I use them to show what I can do, in 
the face of the obstacles life has put in my way that God has helped me 
overcome," Rose said. "I couldn't do it without God's talent.

"And if God can help me do it, He can help you do it.

"You can make something of your life or you can do nothing with it. It's up 
to you."

Of course, anyone wanting to buy the items she uses for illustration is 
welcome to do so. Rose said anyone interested in having a quilt made needed 
to know a king-size quilt made by her runs from $300-400, while laptops and 
throws run $50-80. Other sizes range in between the two prices.

Rose added there was a $7 cost for shipping and handling.

Diane Rose can be contacted by telephone at (254) 799-7990 or via e-mail at 
quiltrose at prodigy.net.

xlb at dailystatesman.com


http://www.dailystatesman.com/story/1110991.html


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